William Osgood Taylor II (July 19, 1932 – May 1, 2011) was an American journalist and newspaper executive who served as publisher of The Boston Globe from 1978 to 1997, during which time the Globe was sold to The New York Times Company for $1.1 billion.

Taylor attended Dexter School in Brookline, Massachusetts, and St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, before graduating from Harvard College in 1954.

[1] He then served two years in the United States Army, stationed in West Germany.

[2] During his time as publisher, Taylor helped broker the 1993 sale of the Globe to The New York Times Company,[3] and the paper was awarded nine Pulitzer Prizes.

[4] Taylor died in 2011 at his home in Boston from brain cancer.